


i'd still wave goodbye

by pawnshophearttradingup



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, No Dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 11:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18809785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pawnshophearttradingup/pseuds/pawnshophearttradingup
Summary: It had been a battle. A skirmish, really, something small just beyond where the Order of Heroes had been dispatched. Something easy, Alfonse remembered thinking. It wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t supposed to be.That changed when Zacharias couldn’t be found after the battle.





	i'd still wave goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> it's me again with another fic i wrote months ago then never posted. hope u enjoy it and thanks geo for once more helping me make all my fics good

It had been a battle. A skirmish, really, something small just beyond where the Order of Heroes had been dispatched. Something easy, Alfonse remembered thinking. It wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t supposed to be.

That changed when Zacharias couldn’t be found after the battle. He’d simply vanished, almost like he had never been there in the first place. Were it not for all his belongings left in the tent he shared with Alfonse (and hadn’t that been a struggle, to convince Zacharias not to try and switch tents? He didn’t remember when Zacharias started pulling away from him, but every passing day Alfonse found himself wanting his best friend back more and more) and all the memories that Alfonse would hold close to his aching heart, he was sure anyone else could almost believe it.

But Alfonse himself could never.

He, personally, led the search party looking for Zacharias. He couldn’t accept the possibility that Zacharias had fallen in battle, despite what some of the others were suggesting. After all, they hadn’t found his body yet. He might have been kidnapped, or have gotten lost, or…

Or maybe he’d run away on his own. The thought came unbidden to Alfonse’s mind, and once it was there, he couldn’t seem to rid himself of the possibility.

It made more sense than Alfonse would like to admit. After all, he’d certainly recognized how strange Zacharias had been acting recently. This morning, however, everything seemed almost normal. Zacharias sat next to him at breakfast, despite how for the past few weeks, it had always been Alfonse seeking Zacharias out and not the other way around. They hadn’t discussed anything important, nor anything personal. All they had talked about was just normal tactics, but it still felt like some sort of gift to Alfonse. Zacharias didn’t pull away like he’d been doing, and it felt like he was the one trying to get Alfonse to stay and talk with him more for once.

Maybe he’d made up his mind the night before, Alfonse’s traitorous thoughts told him, and maybe this had been his own way of saying goodbye.

 

In this one situation, Alfonse hated being right. Zacharias-- no, Bruno-- no,  _ Zacharias _ told them everything when they finally, finally found him. How he was the prince of Embla. How he was cursed by the very blood running through his veins.

How he had to leave, or else he would have ended up killing Alfonse and Sharena.

Alfonse had never stopped looking for Zacharias. It sometimes took less priority when more urgent issues emerged, but it was always still there, in the back of Alfonse’s mind. Even Commander Anna occasionally had her doubts that Zacharias was still alive, but Alfonse could never lose hope that he was out there, alive somewhere. Even if he had run away intentionally, Alfonse just needed to know he was okay.

But out of all the possibilities Alfonse considered, this had never been one. His best friend for well over a decade now was also his…

He didn’t want to say enemy. It seemed like too much, hurt him even to think.

Still, finding Zacharias again now brought his single-minded determination to bring him home back into the forefront.

Even if he could feel his heart shattering as Zacharias said he couldn’t return to Askr with them. One day, Alfonse thought. He’d been searching this long already. He could wait a little longer.

**Author's Note:**

> title from paramore's "brighter"
> 
> same as ever, i can be found on [twitter](https://twitter.com/lineraway) and on my [writing blog](https://zenithgays.tumblr.com/)


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